Sorry I've been so long in putting up a blog post. All last week was parciales and I have a few this week too. (I had my grammar one early this morning.) But aside from the parciales, this weekend I went to the province of Mendoza!
So anyone who knows anything about Argentina, or wine (hint, hint) knows that Mendoza is famous for all of the wineries and fine wines it produces. It also just happens to have a beautiful landscape, and is a prime spot for some outdoor sports, (which is mostly what we did.)
The trip was with the entire CC-CS program of course, and a few of the Speaking Partners as well. We all left by a private omnibus at 10pm Friday night, and arrived at Valle Grande and went straight to our first activity, rafting, right away.
This was my second time rafting ever, but a first for a lot of people there. The company that ran the rafting had us all wear these wetsuits that looked a lot like clown suits. They were more for keeping us warm rather than keeping us dry. And everything was one size fits all. This includes life-jackets and helmets. I have to say, as a former lifeguard, the life-jacket situation had me nervous. They didn't fit everyone, and even with the people they did fit wouldn't tighten all the way, including mine. But luckily only one person fell out of any of the rafts the whole time, and the river wasn't really all that dangerous.
Before we left in the rafts, we were explained that rafting rivers in Argentina are categorized 1 through 5, with 1 being the easiest, and 5 being the most dangerous, and that this river was a 2. For being a 2, it was pretty easy. It was also a pretty short rafting trip. (At least it was a for me, since my first rafting experience was with Hollins, and that trip was ALL DAY) The rafting in Mendoza took less than two hours.
There was a friendly competition between all the rafts to see which team would reach the finish first. Although my raft was the last to leave, we were the first to finish! ¡Somos Ganadores!
After rafting, we had asado for lunch. After lunch, there was an impromptu concert courtesy of Hendrix. Hendrix is the youngest of the group here at CC-CS, and also the one that knows the least bit of Spanish. She's still going through the college application process, and only took one year of High School Spanish. She technically doesn't even qualify to be in the program according to the requirements, but CC-CS has 32 slots for each place each semester, and they were not all filled. (CC-CS also has programs in two different cities in Spain, and used to have one in Cuba.) But we're glad she's here.
Anyway, Hendrix brought her guitar on the trip, and took it out, and started playing and singing. She's really good, and a has a great voice. (I'd like to get a video of her performing sometime) She plays a lot of folk songs, that I don't know (I don't listen to a lot of folk music, y por supuesto . . .) but a lot of the girls knew some the songs she was singing, and sang along, and Olivia accompanied her on harmonica. And before we knew it, it was time for the next activity.
It was a little two-for-one. Rappelling and tirolesa, which is known as zip-lining for you English speakers. We had our choice of doing either activity first, or only doing one of both. I did rappelling first.
I've done rock-climbing, and quite a bit of other Outward-Bound activities over the years through summer camp, Girl scouts, and the Hinterbrand Lodge program in sixth grade, but this was my first time rappelling.
It wasn't that high up, but the height was still intimidating. The guy that was hooking everyone up to the safety line before going down started a conversation with everyone, and got everyone's name so he could get their attention and yell instructions at them should anything happen. Anyway, when he hooked me up and I told him my name was Victoria, he said he had a sister named Victoria too, but that they don't get along well. I was a little nervous taking the first few steps, but when I realized that I wasn't holding all of my weight with one arm, and that I was totally in control, it was easier. I'm glad I did it, because I stopped a few times to look at the scenery and it was gorgeous! I wish I was able to take pictures from there, but I needed both hands for rappelling, and I didn't want to rick dropping it. But the mountains were incredible!
At the bottom was the line for the tirolesa. It was fun, but the actual zip-lining was too short for me. I know it's fast, but I've done zip-lines that lasted a bit longer. But I guess it's just as well, since I almost lost my grip right before I landed.
Afterwards, we went to our hotel in San Rafael and had a close to 2-hour break before we all went to dinner at a restaurant called Malbec. Malbec is a type of Argentine, wine, but we didn't drink any at dinner.
We didn't see much of the city, our trip was so short. After dinner, it was about 11 and not that many people went out because they were so tired from the days' activities. But Jennifer, Alexis, and I were adventurous enough to join Alfredo and Vicky to a coffee shop. We all ordered something and spent an hour in these short lounge chairs, just chatting until about 12:30. I don't actually really remember how late we stayed out, I just know we didn't stay out as long as is normal for a typical Argentine weekend. But I have to say, it was interesting having a conversation about the differences between sexual and gender standards in Argentina and the US with the Program Coordinator and his assistant. Mostly it was with Jennifer, because she's a Women's Studies major and loves to discuss anything to do with feminism.
I don't know what Jennifer did after coffee, because I know she didn't come back to the hotel room at least an hour after I did. But I just went back to the room and crashed.
The next day, Sunday, our breakfast was brought to the hotel room. There was coffee, hot milk, and medialunas. The medialunas were delicious, but the coffee was complete crap. Probably the worst I've ever tasted in my life. No matter how much milk and sugar I added, I couldn't make it taste any better.
We packed out of our hotel rooms and got on the bus to go and visit a bodega by 10 am. The tour was a bit short, but it was cool. They let inside the chambers where they store the grapes before they press them. They also showed us how they put the labels on each of the bottles by hand, and had a few people try out the machine that they use to push the corks into the bottles.
There was a fountain of a woman holding a wine jar outside in front of the wine shop attached to the bodega. It was interesting, because water was flowing from everywhere except for the jar, which had red wine flowing from it instead. It had stained the stone from years of wine being poured over it, and of all fell to mix with the water at the bottom. I guess they make enough wine to just use some for their fountain.
At last we got to the wine tasting. We were able to try it two ways. Plain, or heated and mixed with chocolate and sugar. The chocolate and sugar wine was delicious. I think I found a new favorite drink for Christmastime! (And of course this was mixed with their special 'Wintertime' wine. And just to remind you all, winter has pretty much just arrived in Argentina.)
Now the wine plain, wasn't that good. It wasn't bad, but it almost had close to no taste at all. It was like drinking water that had a little bit of wine accidently poured in it. I think the problem was that all the wines that had us taste and try were selling, were all no older than 2007. It's like they don't wait to let the wine age long.
A lot of people went and bought bottles, and some boxes, of wine, because it was so cheap. Like 12-24 pesos a bottle (which is like $4-8.) But I didn't buy any because I'm not quite sure on regulations on bringing alcohol in luggage through customs. Gabriel suggested I just buy it and drink it in the country, but why would I go through all that trouble and money if I didn't like it? I did buy some novelty wine souvenirs for me and my mom though.
We then returned to San Rafael for lunch, and then went back on our way to Córdoba. We left San Rafael around 3 in the afternoon, and we were supposed to arrive back in Córdoba around 11, 11:30 at night, but the driver took a waay wrong turn, and we didn't get back until 2am. And we all still had classes the next day! Good thing none of my Monday classes start until after noon. But it was still pretty late, and we were all very tired.
I really enjoyed the outdoorsy stuff, but I felt the weekend was still too short for me. I would have loved to have had more time looking at the scenery, and doing a wine tour since that's what Mendoza is famous for. But I can't complain since this weekend was free. Maybe one day I'll be able to go back to Mendoza and have more time to appreciate it.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Martes 13
So today is Martes trece in Argentina. Tuesday the 13th here is bad luck, like Friday the 13th back in the United States. But I didn't have a lot of bad luck today, and no one else was freaking out about it.
Although Mimi told me her son, Juan Pablo, was born on martes 13. I can only guess what that means.
It did rain a lot today, and it's pretty cold. It wasn't bad until I had to wait for almost an hour for my bus to arrive so I could go home. I guess that means winter is coming. That's right WINTER!
Also, this past Monday was the first day we did any real painting in my UNC class. The profesora said to just paint whatever we wanted at first. I had a lot of yellow, so I figured painting the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto would be a good idea. The paint didn't spread the way I wanted it to though. She just let us loose without any instruction, so I'm really not sure what I was doing wrong. But one of the assistant professors was walking by and he told me I was doing a good job. (I'm pretty sure he meant "as a beginner" but who knows.)
After the majority of the class finished painting, I thought profe Trojer would let us loose early, but instead she said we had to paint the same picture with the same colors and composition, but with más mancha which roughly translates as "more stain." Which meant less controlled strokes, and more dotting. That left me in twist, because the majority of my original painting was already "mancha" but the profesora gave me a few suggestions on how I could change it.
The painting class isn't bad. I actually enjoy it, but I hope I get better. And the Argentine students that sit with us are really helpful. I'm going to have to buy more paints though, and a portfolio to carry my paintings and my paper around.
Although Mimi told me her son, Juan Pablo, was born on martes 13. I can only guess what that means.
It did rain a lot today, and it's pretty cold. It wasn't bad until I had to wait for almost an hour for my bus to arrive so I could go home. I guess that means winter is coming. That's right WINTER!
Also, this past Monday was the first day we did any real painting in my UNC class. The profesora said to just paint whatever we wanted at first. I had a lot of yellow, so I figured painting the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto would be a good idea. The paint didn't spread the way I wanted it to though. She just let us loose without any instruction, so I'm really not sure what I was doing wrong. But one of the assistant professors was walking by and he told me I was doing a good job. (I'm pretty sure he meant "as a beginner" but who knows.)
After the majority of the class finished painting, I thought profe Trojer would let us loose early, but instead she said we had to paint the same picture with the same colors and composition, but with más mancha which roughly translates as "more stain." Which meant less controlled strokes, and more dotting. That left me in twist, because the majority of my original painting was already "mancha" but the profesora gave me a few suggestions on how I could change it.
The painting class isn't bad. I actually enjoy it, but I hope I get better. And the Argentine students that sit with us are really helpful. I'm going to have to buy more paints though, and a portfolio to carry my paintings and my paper around.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
El arte
Alright, so this past week I tried out both the beginner painting and drawing classes. We didn't do any actual art for any of the classes, it was just introduction to what we were going to do for the year. But after sitting in for both of them, I decided I like the painting class better. The profesora is so sweet, and amiable, and I just had a better feeling about that class.
Either way, no matter which class I choose, they professors have to go the head of the facultad and ask if us foreign students can receive a grade for the semester, because these are both year-long classes.
I also bought most of my art supplies. The store I went to buy mine was missing a certain color I needed, and one of the paint brushes. But other than that I have everything. And it was much cheaper than I thought it would be. I have a lot of artist friends, and I know how expensive art supplies can run back in the United States. I went into the store thinking everything would cost the same after the conversion to pesos. But no, everything came out to under 30 pesos! That's like $10! So we'll see how painting goes again tomorrow, and if I'm actually any good at it!
This past Friday, Jennifer, Emily and I went to the Feriada de Internacionales Artesanias which was way out in the boonies of Córdoba. It was fun though, but not as International as I was lead to believe. The majority of the artisan booths were from right here in Argentina. But we saw a few cool booths and crafts from Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay.
There were also too booths selling middle-eastern items, claiming they were booths from India. (They weren't really.) There was also a booth with two African guys that were selling cheap and gaudy watches and jewelry, like you'd see on the streets of New York City.
Emily and I split a bag of jelly fruit candy from one of the Bolivian booths. (Or Paraguay, one of them.) The candies were good, but when we handed over our money, one of the men at the booth held up one of our 2 peso notes and said it was a fake. I don't know which one of us had the counterfeit bill, but when the guy saw how confused we looked, he just let us go on our way. I guess he let it slide by since it was only 2 pesos. I don't know who would make counterfeit 2 peso notes. That just doesn't seem worth the time.
There is a huge counterfeit bill problem in Argentina, but it's mostly with the 50 peso notes. (100 pesos coming in second actually.)
Anyway, I ended up not buying anything at the Feriada because everything was expensive and all the prices high. I saw two booths selling handspun yarn, and I though about getting a skein for Jen Waterhouse (since that's how I'm paying her for rent, for using her basement as storage) But they were all 50 pesos and up. And the yarn that was within my price range was all scratchy.
We ended up waiting for almost an hour for the colectivo after we left the Feriada. We had to take E1 back, and most of the E1's that were coming by weren't going back to the centro, which didn't make any sense to us. A huge crowd built up waiting for the E1 bus. Finally, an completely empty one was sent over to take us all back.
When we got back to the centro, we noticed an unusual amount of cars blocked up. When we went to la calle 27 de Abril, we noticed all the colectivos jammed up. It took awhile to take the other bus back home. I learned later downtown was so crowded because there was a Belgrano game that night. So everything was crowded because all of the fanatics were out.
Yesterday, I went downtown early (early being 9:30 pm, which is really early for going out in Argentina.) I had planned on meeting with some friends to go see a movie, but they were taking their time. Patio Olmos was crowded, so I decided to walk over to the Plaza San Martín, and to my surprise, there was tango going on! There were a few old couples dancing, a few young couples, and I saw a mother dancing with her daughter. It was so cute!
Jen finally arrived around 12:15, and we went to go see the Blindside at 1am. (Which is called Un Sueño Posible en español.) It was really good!
I spent this afternoon just working on my homework, and then looking at all the classes for next semester, since I'm going to have to register for the fall term next week! I now I have only two requirements left for my major, and maybe one or two Gen ed credits left, most of which should be taken care of here in Argentina. So there's only one Spanish class I have to take next semester, because all the others are either beginner level, or I already took them. If I play my cards right, my senior year might be really easy and just full of fun classes, which would help for time on working on job applications, like the JET program, or that English teaching program in Spain. It's so weird. It's making me think I should go full forward into planning for my whole life right now, but I just want to focus on being here in Argentina.
It's also kind of a joke to me, to be planning my life. Because most of everything in my life that has happened, or I chose to do, in the past 10 years or so, was done on a whim. Well, we'll see how it goes!
Either way, no matter which class I choose, they professors have to go the head of the facultad and ask if us foreign students can receive a grade for the semester, because these are both year-long classes.
I also bought most of my art supplies. The store I went to buy mine was missing a certain color I needed, and one of the paint brushes. But other than that I have everything. And it was much cheaper than I thought it would be. I have a lot of artist friends, and I know how expensive art supplies can run back in the United States. I went into the store thinking everything would cost the same after the conversion to pesos. But no, everything came out to under 30 pesos! That's like $10! So we'll see how painting goes again tomorrow, and if I'm actually any good at it!
This past Friday, Jennifer, Emily and I went to the Feriada de Internacionales Artesanias which was way out in the boonies of Córdoba. It was fun though, but not as International as I was lead to believe. The majority of the artisan booths were from right here in Argentina. But we saw a few cool booths and crafts from Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay.
There were also too booths selling middle-eastern items, claiming they were booths from India. (They weren't really.) There was also a booth with two African guys that were selling cheap and gaudy watches and jewelry, like you'd see on the streets of New York City.
Emily and I split a bag of jelly fruit candy from one of the Bolivian booths. (Or Paraguay, one of them.) The candies were good, but when we handed over our money, one of the men at the booth held up one of our 2 peso notes and said it was a fake. I don't know which one of us had the counterfeit bill, but when the guy saw how confused we looked, he just let us go on our way. I guess he let it slide by since it was only 2 pesos. I don't know who would make counterfeit 2 peso notes. That just doesn't seem worth the time.
There is a huge counterfeit bill problem in Argentina, but it's mostly with the 50 peso notes. (100 pesos coming in second actually.)
Anyway, I ended up not buying anything at the Feriada because everything was expensive and all the prices high. I saw two booths selling handspun yarn, and I though about getting a skein for Jen Waterhouse (since that's how I'm paying her for rent, for using her basement as storage) But they were all 50 pesos and up. And the yarn that was within my price range was all scratchy.
We ended up waiting for almost an hour for the colectivo after we left the Feriada. We had to take E1 back, and most of the E1's that were coming by weren't going back to the centro, which didn't make any sense to us. A huge crowd built up waiting for the E1 bus. Finally, an completely empty one was sent over to take us all back.
When we got back to the centro, we noticed an unusual amount of cars blocked up. When we went to la calle 27 de Abril, we noticed all the colectivos jammed up. It took awhile to take the other bus back home. I learned later downtown was so crowded because there was a Belgrano game that night. So everything was crowded because all of the fanatics were out.
Yesterday, I went downtown early (early being 9:30 pm, which is really early for going out in Argentina.) I had planned on meeting with some friends to go see a movie, but they were taking their time. Patio Olmos was crowded, so I decided to walk over to the Plaza San Martín, and to my surprise, there was tango going on! There were a few old couples dancing, a few young couples, and I saw a mother dancing with her daughter. It was so cute!
Jen finally arrived around 12:15, and we went to go see the Blindside at 1am. (Which is called Un Sueño Posible en español.) It was really good!
I spent this afternoon just working on my homework, and then looking at all the classes for next semester, since I'm going to have to register for the fall term next week! I now I have only two requirements left for my major, and maybe one or two Gen ed credits left, most of which should be taken care of here in Argentina. So there's only one Spanish class I have to take next semester, because all the others are either beginner level, or I already took them. If I play my cards right, my senior year might be really easy and just full of fun classes, which would help for time on working on job applications, like the JET program, or that English teaching program in Spain. It's so weird. It's making me think I should go full forward into planning for my whole life right now, but I just want to focus on being here in Argentina.
It's also kind of a joke to me, to be planning my life. Because most of everything in my life that has happened, or I chose to do, in the past 10 years or so, was done on a whim. Well, we'll see how it goes!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Semana Santa, CAF, y mi hermana alemán
Alright, so my posts are becoming less frequent, but I realize I should make them more frequent, just so I can include more details that I can remember, and so that my posts aren't such huge blocks, like I'm pretty sure this one is going to be. Thanks to mom for reminding me when to update!
Alright, so we had a four day weekend for Semana Santa. Most people went and traveled to different places, but I just stayed in town. (Saving my money for the Week of May when I have to travel.) But I wasn't the only one that stayed in town.
I went with my friend Gabriel to a bar on Wednesday night, called Ochentoso. Wednesday nights are ladies' nights there, so of course that's where a lot of Córdoba's lesbians congregate. It was actually really interesting. We had a couple of drinks, and met a few interesting people. Meike, the german girl, (who's also in PECLA, but not CC-CS) was the one girl in our group who got hit on a lot. It was funny, because we'd watch her talk to all these girls, and then she'd walk back to our table and say, "I have no idea what they just said." There were a few girls in the bar that were amazed when I told them that I was also studying Japanese alongside Spanish. They were like, "OH wow! THREE languages! How do you do that?
I can't distinguish what I did on Thursday and Friday, because they both run together in my mind, but one day I woke up at like, 1:30 in the afternoon, and after I got dressed and got into the kitchen, Mimi already had a family party underway. I just remember Mimi made me eat in the kitchen. The food they had for Good Friday was this soup with these grainy dumplings, and empanadas with fish and vegetables. (It was the first time I've eaten fish here. Argentines don't eat seafood much.)
After I ate, I sat at the table in the living room as Mimi pointed out different family members. I had a hard time keeping track of everyone's names and if they were cousins, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews etc. There were like, five, conversations going on at once, and they all pertained to their personal lives, so I couldn't figure out how to assimilate myself into the conversation and practice my Spanish.
Sometime after all the family members emptied the house, I went by myself downtown to Patio Olmos and see Como entrenar a tú dragón just so I could get out of the house. Patio Olmos was the most crowded I have ever seen it. It's because it was one of the few "shoppings" that was still open for semana santa, which is treated as pretty much a federal holiday here in Argentina. The movie was really cute though. It wasn't hard to catch all the Spanish dialogue, and if there was apart that wasn't clear, or was too fast for me, I was just admiring the details in the computer animation.
So on Friday I went to Córdoba Anime Fest! (Hey, I wasn't leaving town, and it cost only US$10 to get in.) I tried to take the bus there, but I got on one, and it went in the opposite direction, so I took a bus back to the centro, and then walked all the way there. It was located at the Córdoba Polish association building. The whole Convention was just in one big room, but there was also a small side room to get food, and a courtyard out back.
So I took pictures of cosplayers, looked at all the vendors tables, and bought some food and manga (which of course is in Spanish.) I didn't buy much else, because a lot of the merchandise is the same stuff I can get back in the United States, or stuff that I bought back when I was in Japan. So I was about to leave early, since I had seen everything in the one room. But there were two lives bands that played some anime songs, and they were actually really good. I got interested when they started playing songs that I knew. I, along with a lot of guys actually, rushed forward when they started playing songs from DeathNote.
The first band was called Sephiroth, and the second one was called Tamagotchi. Both were good, but Tamagotchi was a lot more fun to mosh to. They played the Pokémon themesong in Spanish and they also, for some reason, played the Ghostbusters themesong. I couldn't really mosh as hard as I wanted to, because I had my purse flailing around, and still had to hold on to my bag of manga that I bought. (And if anyone's wondering I got Nana vol.1-3 and the first volume of D.Gray-man. So if anyone wants to try reading any of these manga in Spanish when I come back, just hit me up!)
I was about to leave the convention after the last band finished playing, but then I was pulled over by this strange guy, who asked if I was the same girl that lives "en la casa de Mimi." I was shocked for a minute, because I didn't recognize him, and I had no idea how the hell he knew who I was. But then he introduced himself as Maxi, el sobrino de Mimi and that he recognized me from the party at Mimi's house. I hung out with him for awhile, until the convention was over for the day. We talked a little bit about the manga, anime, and video games we liked, and watched the cosplay contest.
After the cosplay contest, there was a drawing for prizes. (Everyone was given a ticket when they entered the con.) There were a few times when they called numbers that were close to mine. The grand prize though, was an Xbox, and the number they called was pretty close to mine as well. (I didn't win anything.) But as they called out the numbers I was thinking, how cool it would be to win the Xbox, and then I thought; "What am I going to do with an Argentine Xbox? Would it even work back in the United States?"
But anyways, after it was over, I took a taxi back with Maxi and his friend (I forgot her name, but she was cool though) to the centro, and took a bus back home. He was really helpful. We traded cellphone numbers and emails, and he kept asking me if I knew my way home, and said, "Call me if you get lost." It was really sweet, but of course I knew how to get back home. I've been taking the colectivos and taxis back home since I got here in February, so of course I can handle it.
Anyway, I spent Sunday catching up on my homework, and around five, our German student showed up! Her name is Federica, and she's nice. She's taller than I am, and she just graduated from High School about two and a half weeks ago, and is 19. She brought over some German chocolate as a hostess gift for Mimi, but we all got to share it.
Federica also speaks English. She's been studying English for 8 years, and Spanish for 5. Seeing her arrive and get adjusted is like watching myself when I first arrived here in Argentina. She's not having as rough a time as I did, but I think she does have a more negative outlook. She's studied abroad before in Canada for 6 months, and she says she loved it. She also said at dinner one time that she went to London and loved it, and that English is her favorite language to study. She's also overwhelmed because she's juggling three languages. She has to speak Spanish with Mimi, and when she speaks to Taylor and Me, she uses English.
She's only staying in the house for one month, but she's supposed to be in the country for 2. She's doing this program where she goes to school for a month, and then next month go and volunteer at a school in the country somewhere for mentally challenged children. I think the shock from the first two days of realizing, "I don't know as much Spanish as I thought I did," hit her hard. She told me she doesn't want to do the volunteer portion anymore, because she doesn't think she can do it with her level of Spanish. She can still technically opt out of the volunteer portion now, but she doesn't have the money to change her ticket, because it isn't open-ended.
I told her she should just give it time, before she decides to opt out, and that if she does, she should check her budget now to see if she can just spend the whole month traveling around Argentina, instead of trying to go home early. Because her Spanish isn't bad at all, although I don't think her program is going about it the right way with helping her. Her first week is all Spanish classes, but the teach in English for the first week, it's not full immersion until next week. When Taylor and I got here, the program and orientation was completely in Spanish right from the beginning, the moment that greeted us at the airport.
But Federica is finding her way around the city with her friends from her program faster than I did, so I think she'll be fine. She's a good housemate. I wish I had more than one month to get to know her.
Alright, so we had a four day weekend for Semana Santa. Most people went and traveled to different places, but I just stayed in town. (Saving my money for the Week of May when I have to travel.) But I wasn't the only one that stayed in town.
I went with my friend Gabriel to a bar on Wednesday night, called Ochentoso. Wednesday nights are ladies' nights there, so of course that's where a lot of Córdoba's lesbians congregate. It was actually really interesting. We had a couple of drinks, and met a few interesting people. Meike, the german girl, (who's also in PECLA, but not CC-CS) was the one girl in our group who got hit on a lot. It was funny, because we'd watch her talk to all these girls, and then she'd walk back to our table and say, "I have no idea what they just said." There were a few girls in the bar that were amazed when I told them that I was also studying Japanese alongside Spanish. They were like, "OH wow! THREE languages! How do you do that?
I can't distinguish what I did on Thursday and Friday, because they both run together in my mind, but one day I woke up at like, 1:30 in the afternoon, and after I got dressed and got into the kitchen, Mimi already had a family party underway. I just remember Mimi made me eat in the kitchen. The food they had for Good Friday was this soup with these grainy dumplings, and empanadas with fish and vegetables. (It was the first time I've eaten fish here. Argentines don't eat seafood much.)
After I ate, I sat at the table in the living room as Mimi pointed out different family members. I had a hard time keeping track of everyone's names and if they were cousins, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews etc. There were like, five, conversations going on at once, and they all pertained to their personal lives, so I couldn't figure out how to assimilate myself into the conversation and practice my Spanish.
Sometime after all the family members emptied the house, I went by myself downtown to Patio Olmos and see Como entrenar a tú dragón just so I could get out of the house. Patio Olmos was the most crowded I have ever seen it. It's because it was one of the few "shoppings" that was still open for semana santa, which is treated as pretty much a federal holiday here in Argentina. The movie was really cute though. It wasn't hard to catch all the Spanish dialogue, and if there was apart that wasn't clear, or was too fast for me, I was just admiring the details in the computer animation.
So on Friday I went to Córdoba Anime Fest! (Hey, I wasn't leaving town, and it cost only US$10 to get in.) I tried to take the bus there, but I got on one, and it went in the opposite direction, so I took a bus back to the centro, and then walked all the way there. It was located at the Córdoba Polish association building. The whole Convention was just in one big room, but there was also a small side room to get food, and a courtyard out back.
So I took pictures of cosplayers, looked at all the vendors tables, and bought some food and manga (which of course is in Spanish.) I didn't buy much else, because a lot of the merchandise is the same stuff I can get back in the United States, or stuff that I bought back when I was in Japan. So I was about to leave early, since I had seen everything in the one room. But there were two lives bands that played some anime songs, and they were actually really good. I got interested when they started playing songs that I knew. I, along with a lot of guys actually, rushed forward when they started playing songs from DeathNote.
The first band was called Sephiroth, and the second one was called Tamagotchi. Both were good, but Tamagotchi was a lot more fun to mosh to. They played the Pokémon themesong in Spanish and they also, for some reason, played the Ghostbusters themesong. I couldn't really mosh as hard as I wanted to, because I had my purse flailing around, and still had to hold on to my bag of manga that I bought. (And if anyone's wondering I got Nana vol.1-3 and the first volume of D.Gray-man. So if anyone wants to try reading any of these manga in Spanish when I come back, just hit me up!)
I was about to leave the convention after the last band finished playing, but then I was pulled over by this strange guy, who asked if I was the same girl that lives "en la casa de Mimi." I was shocked for a minute, because I didn't recognize him, and I had no idea how the hell he knew who I was. But then he introduced himself as Maxi, el sobrino de Mimi and that he recognized me from the party at Mimi's house. I hung out with him for awhile, until the convention was over for the day. We talked a little bit about the manga, anime, and video games we liked, and watched the cosplay contest.
After the cosplay contest, there was a drawing for prizes. (Everyone was given a ticket when they entered the con.) There were a few times when they called numbers that were close to mine. The grand prize though, was an Xbox, and the number they called was pretty close to mine as well. (I didn't win anything.) But as they called out the numbers I was thinking, how cool it would be to win the Xbox, and then I thought; "What am I going to do with an Argentine Xbox? Would it even work back in the United States?"
But anyways, after it was over, I took a taxi back with Maxi and his friend (I forgot her name, but she was cool though) to the centro, and took a bus back home. He was really helpful. We traded cellphone numbers and emails, and he kept asking me if I knew my way home, and said, "Call me if you get lost." It was really sweet, but of course I knew how to get back home. I've been taking the colectivos and taxis back home since I got here in February, so of course I can handle it.
Anyway, I spent Sunday catching up on my homework, and around five, our German student showed up! Her name is Federica, and she's nice. She's taller than I am, and she just graduated from High School about two and a half weeks ago, and is 19. She brought over some German chocolate as a hostess gift for Mimi, but we all got to share it.
Federica also speaks English. She's been studying English for 8 years, and Spanish for 5. Seeing her arrive and get adjusted is like watching myself when I first arrived here in Argentina. She's not having as rough a time as I did, but I think she does have a more negative outlook. She's studied abroad before in Canada for 6 months, and she says she loved it. She also said at dinner one time that she went to London and loved it, and that English is her favorite language to study. She's also overwhelmed because she's juggling three languages. She has to speak Spanish with Mimi, and when she speaks to Taylor and Me, she uses English.
She's only staying in the house for one month, but she's supposed to be in the country for 2. She's doing this program where she goes to school for a month, and then next month go and volunteer at a school in the country somewhere for mentally challenged children. I think the shock from the first two days of realizing, "I don't know as much Spanish as I thought I did," hit her hard. She told me she doesn't want to do the volunteer portion anymore, because she doesn't think she can do it with her level of Spanish. She can still technically opt out of the volunteer portion now, but she doesn't have the money to change her ticket, because it isn't open-ended.
I told her she should just give it time, before she decides to opt out, and that if she does, she should check her budget now to see if she can just spend the whole month traveling around Argentina, instead of trying to go home early. Because her Spanish isn't bad at all, although I don't think her program is going about it the right way with helping her. Her first week is all Spanish classes, but the teach in English for the first week, it's not full immersion until next week. When Taylor and I got here, the program and orientation was completely in Spanish right from the beginning, the moment that greeted us at the airport.
But Federica is finding her way around the city with her friends from her program faster than I did, so I think she'll be fine. She's a good housemate. I wish I had more than one month to get to know her.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Día de la memoria y exámenes
Okay, so this is about a whole week late getting up, but last Wednesday we didn't have classes because it was a national holiday here in Argentina. El Día de la Memoria commemorates the day when the Argentine government first started making people "disappear" in 1976 until 1985. A total of 30,000 intellectuals, professors, students, anyone that the government thought was a threat were kidnapped, put in cement shoes, and thrown into the ocean.
This day is held to commemorate those who were lost, and to show the world that they won't forget what their government had done. There was a march in downtown Córdoba that started around 6 pm. There were a lot of groups marching together, like the Junior Socialists and Communists. There were also a lot of families marching together holding photos of their own family members that had "disappeared" with their names and the dates that they "disappeared."
While I was walking along the march with Jennifer and Rachel, I overhead a random American tourist ask an Argentine woman, "So is this march supposed to accomplish anything?" I will tell you right here and now that it accomplishes a lot. It's to take a stand that the people will not tolerate this heinous act ever again. It's to show they won't EVER forget. They are practicing their right to think and to remember without fear of being taken down by the government themselves. All of that in itself is a lot.
I took a lot of photos of the march, but sadly I can't put them up yet. I really wish I could.
Here's a quick link about the history of the Guerra Sucia and the disappeared. (I hope it works anyway.)
I also had two exams this week. Not big ones though. The one I had for Gramática Avanzada was a little tough. There were two parts for it, and I think I did alright on the first part, the second part not so much. I'll be finding out my scores next week. My one for Cultura Argentina wasn't that bad. We had to go over review questions to make sure we understood them completely, and the test was oral, so the profesora picked people at random to give the answers. I think I did alright, because I know I did more research than some of the other girls and gave more details in my answers.
I don't have anymore classes this week since it's Semana Santa. Some of Mimi's relatives are staying over for a couple of days. They're staying in the other bedroom, so now I have to go through the gate in the courtyard to get to my room while they're staying here. I'm also going to have to do that when the German exchange student arrives too. Her name is Federica, she's arriving in the afternoon Easter Sunday and she's staying for a month.
This day is held to commemorate those who were lost, and to show the world that they won't forget what their government had done. There was a march in downtown Córdoba that started around 6 pm. There were a lot of groups marching together, like the Junior Socialists and Communists. There were also a lot of families marching together holding photos of their own family members that had "disappeared" with their names and the dates that they "disappeared."
While I was walking along the march with Jennifer and Rachel, I overhead a random American tourist ask an Argentine woman, "So is this march supposed to accomplish anything?" I will tell you right here and now that it accomplishes a lot. It's to take a stand that the people will not tolerate this heinous act ever again. It's to show they won't EVER forget. They are practicing their right to think and to remember without fear of being taken down by the government themselves. All of that in itself is a lot.
I took a lot of photos of the march, but sadly I can't put them up yet. I really wish I could.
Here's a quick link about the history of the Guerra Sucia and the disappeared. (I hope it works anyway.)
I also had two exams this week. Not big ones though. The one I had for Gramática Avanzada was a little tough. There were two parts for it, and I think I did alright on the first part, the second part not so much. I'll be finding out my scores next week. My one for Cultura Argentina wasn't that bad. We had to go over review questions to make sure we understood them completely, and the test was oral, so the profesora picked people at random to give the answers. I think I did alright, because I know I did more research than some of the other girls and gave more details in my answers.
I don't have anymore classes this week since it's Semana Santa. Some of Mimi's relatives are staying over for a couple of days. They're staying in the other bedroom, so now I have to go through the gate in the courtyard to get to my room while they're staying here. I'm also going to have to do that when the German exchange student arrives too. Her name is Federica, she's arriving in the afternoon Easter Sunday and she's staying for a month.
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